


grandpalpatine

by neotericbitch



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Rey Nobody, a joke. and then look what happened, i made that the title of the google doc as a joke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23195482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neotericbitch/pseuds/neotericbitch
Summary: [a wip from before release of TROS, proved highly uncanon, left shitty & unfinished, posting for posterity]On unofficial Resistance business, Rey uncovers a Sith holocron.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	grandpalpatine

Rey couldn’t make sense of the pyramidal object in her hands. She understood the shape, could perfectly picture what she was holding without being able to see it, but she couldn’t work out what it was supposed to be, or supposed to represent. The best she could imagine was that it was for decoration, not that it served that purpose in its current position; she couldn’t picture it fitting into the guts of a ship or droid, and the surface was smooth but for patterns of divots, rises and falls in the material. No ports or powerpoints or screws or  _ anything _ .

She was aware that blindly fondling the thing wouldn’t help and she had to lay eyes upon it if she was to understand it any better. Rey put it down and took her arms out of the hole in the wall. She considered the hole. She considered her surroundings. She considered the empty hallway, in fine condition but for the dust in the air and sand on the floor – and the hole in the wall.

She bashed it open with her staff. Most of the metal of the wall had already been torn away – deep scratches along what was left behind indicated a beast had been responsible – now she only had to deal with the rocky bits. Concrete and sandstone gave away fairly easily, mostly due to age but also to how ferociously she belted the shit out of it. Rey bent to peer into the larger hole, debris falling at her feet. And there, mounted on a durasteel plate, hidden in the wall of an abandoned underground facility, was...a thing.

Seeing it made no difference, Rey had no idea what it was. Still, she picked it up and brought it back with her to the room full of control panels and computer monitors, long defunct. She placed it on a circular table in the middle of the room and collapsed on the nearest chair, limbs spread as she sighed with exhaustion and dipped her chin.

The Sith holocron activated and a red-tinted projection of Sheev Palpatine flickered into view. Rey knocked her seat over and scrambled up to her feet, shocked by the sudden appearance of the unfamiliar old man. Standing on the table with his eyes shut, appearing weighed down by his heavy robe, he opened his palms in greeting.

“Skywalker. Long have I waited for you, and at last you arrive.”

His eyes, tiny and yellow, opened and fell upon her. His wrinkled face deepened even further into a frown.

“ _ You _ are not Skywalker.”

Rey knew that already. “No, I’m not.” She looked at the man and the man looked back. Perhaps he expected a more thorough explanation. “You missed your chance to meet him. Luke Skywalker is dead.”

The man waved his hand dismissively. “He had great power within him and chose to remain weak. Alive or dead, he is of no use to me; I await his heir.”

The manner with which he spoke appalled her on a deep, visceral level that she couldn’t quite explain. Whatever he was, he was not  _ right _ , yet she was compelled to respond. “Luke didn’t have any children.”

The man didn’t seem to like this news. He peered down at her. “Tell me the year.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“The  _ year _ , young woman. What is it?”

“35 ABY, just turned.”

“Mm.” He clasped his hands together. “Thirty years ago, the last of my loyal apprentices assured me that Skywalker blood would flow again in another. I instructed him to place the holocron before you where they would find it in due time. The heir should have been born soon after I had that conversation. Was the birth prevented?”

Rey was silent for a moment. “Your apprentice didn’t specifically say it was Luke expecting a child.” She looked him squarely in the eye. “Did he?”

“ _Ah_ ,” The man’s face lit up. “Of course. I had not considered the other sibling, the princess of Alderaan. Yes, this is a welcome development.” He raised a finger, and a seat on the other side of the room lifted off the ground and floated smoothly over to him. He set it down on the table, and sat, regally splaying his hands on each arm of the chair. “You’ll forgive my confusion. Unfortunately, I cannot escape my age.”

Rey just stared. “Who... _ are _ you?”

“I’d wager you know, only not by appearance.” He sat with his back pressed against the chair. Relaxed, but well in control of himself. “There was a time where I was known as Chancellor Palpatine.” 

It was familiar in a way she couldn’t place. The man went on, “Just as there was a time where I was known as Darth Sidious.” 

Luke had said that name to her, telling a story he had all the details to, assuming the same for her when all she really had were the basic elements. Rey had more than that now. “And following that, there was a time where I was known as the Emperor of the galaxy.” Realisation bloomed, horror dawned on her face.

Either not noticing or not caring, Palpatine went on, “Many have addressed me as master.” He gestured down at her fondly. “You may call me Sheev.”

“You created Darth Vader.”

He bowed his head in acknowledgement.

“You’re  _ dead _ .”

“To think something as trivial as death could douse the spirit of a Sith lord,” he shook his head now, “is foolish. But I sense your inexperience, and I excuse you for it. You will know better in time.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“I have introduced myself. Will you do me the same privilege?”

Rey supposed, if nothing else, she could do that. “I’m Rey.” Then, bolstered by her own name and reminded of all she was and could become, added, “I’m a Jedi.”

Upon hearing this, a smirk crossed his haggard features. “I sense you are many things. A Jedi is not one of them.”

“I will be,” she insisted.

“Then I bid you well in your training.”

She glared at him. The old man may have been dead and buried down here, a ghost in a strange little pyramid, but even before she’d told him that Luke was dead, he knew. He knew the Jedi were all gone. What Luke had said rang in her ears, and the thought occurred to her:  _ He’s the reason why _ .

Rey knew it would have been wiser to say nothing else, but couldn’t stop herself. “I know the man you’re waiting for,” she said loudly, just short of shouting. Her heart pounded against her ribcage. “And I can tell you now, whatever you planned for him is pointless. He’s been an apprentice before. He  _ won’t _ be yours.”

“As a man who has been an apprentice in his own young life, I do not doubt you. And as a man who has endured many apprentices, I am relieved.” This was not what she’d been going for. “Whatever path he takes, for one purpose or another, Skywalker and I are destined to meet.” He smiled. “By being here, Rey, you have only made it more certain.”

“I won’t bring you to him,” she declared, voice growing shaky with rage, “and I won’t bring him here. I won’t leave this place until I’m sure you’re really, properly dead. Your time is up. Do you understand  _ that? _ ”

“I may.” Palpatine nodded. Quietly, thoughtfully, he repeated in a murmur, “I may.”

They didn’t speak for a while. Rey returned to the repairs she had been making to one of the control panels. Before she’d uncovered the rotten pyramid. Palpatine enjoyed sitting on his chair on the table.  _ He likes being up high _ , thought Rey.  _ He needs to feel big.  _ Like Snoke. And now she wondered, was Palpatine stronger in the Force than Snoke had been? Could she destroy him by herself?

She no longer wished to think about either of them. So she thought of Ben until that, too, became too painful to bear – more than the dull ache that had not left her since she left him on the  _ Supremacy _ .

Her curiosity overtook her. She returned to Palpatine. “Are you all-knowing?”

He was chuffed by her interest. “I know a great deal of things. But I am not omniscient.”

“And you’re stuck to your pyramid, are you?”

“Regrettably, I  _ am _ affixed to the holocron.”

She inspected it. There was an inscription written in aurebesh along the hypotenuse of each of the triangles that made up its sides, but the script was inverted. She went through each letter, surprised by the lack of sense it made.  _ In umbris potestas est _ . These words existed in separate languages –  _ in _ was in everything – but were incomprehensible put together. It meant literally nothing.

“There are many things I can tell you. Many things I can teach.”

Rey curled her lip. “I won’t be your apprentice, either.”

“The transaction of knowledge is not limited to a master and his student. Are you the master of whomever you teach to use a tool?”

She just frowned sourly at him.

“You have questions,” said Palpatine, “I have answers.”

Her ears popped. Rey gasped and sharply turned her head before the bond had even completely opened. Ben appeared in the entrance to the chamber, sternly nodding at someone unseen – but he reacted quickly to however the bond physically presented itself to him, and he straightened up, flicking his wrist.

“You're dismissed,” he said, and watched the empty space until he was alone. He gazed longingly across the room at Rey. He tended to do that.

Rey couldn’t imagine how she looked to him. Her eyes were wide, heart lurching with fright. She turned back to Palpatine, who looked at her curiously, seemingly unaware of what had set her off; but her anxiety wasn’t quelled. As a ghost and a Force-user, she had no reason not to think he wouldn’t have been able to comprehend the other man who haunted her. But if she asked if he could see Ben, and he couldn’t, then she would have just freely told him her biggest secret. So she said nothing, studying his old face, and held onto her hope for dear life.

Rey said, “I’ll be back.” She started towards the doorway, and snapped over her shoulder, “ _ Don’t _ follow me.”

“You needn’t worry.” Palpatine’s croaky voice barely carried behind her. “I much prefer to remain seated in my old age.”

She marched all the way back down the hall where she’d found the holocron, then even further, into the large, octagonal chamber that had been the first thing she’d seen when she pried the doors open. They were shut now, as she’d left them. It was evening when she arrived, it would be dark now, and she knew better than to let anything that roamed the night on Jakku wander in.

Ben had followed along without issue – she supposed he must have been on one of the First Order’s ships, maybe the  _ Finalizer _ . He made no indication that coming so far was out of the question, nor did he seem to have to worry about being interrupted. On cue, as they stood in the centre of the chamber he angled his head slightly to the side.

“Leave me,” he said, and his company must have gotten out there immediately because he didn’t wait long before addressing her. “I thought you weren’t speaking to me.”

Rey’s brow furrowed. “What? No.” She ran through their most recent interactions in her head. “ _ You _ don’t speak to  _ me _ .”

“Sometimes you shut me out,” he replied matter-of-factly, like he’d expected this very argument.

“Well  _ sometimes _ ,” hissed Rey, “I’m with your mother.”

That appeared to settle it – whatever  _ it _ was, exactly. Ben inhaled, held it; exhaled. He could have fooled anyone into thinking he was relaxed. Anyone, that is, but her.

“Who are you with now?” he asked.

Part of her had known he would ask, but she was still struck by it. This was the conflict she faced when it came to him; what she could and couldn’t say, and how much. Maybe he was right, and without being fully aware of it she had discouraged him from interacting with her. It explained why he would just stand there and look at her, even when she raised her hand in greeting, and sometimes started to smile.

It wasn’t her bloody fault that they were stuck on opposing sides of an actual war and she couldn’t tell him exactly where she was and what she was doing, who she was meeting with. Rey refused to feel guilt over that. It’s not like Ben was offering up that information, either. But - her adventure to the observatory was not official Resistance business, her unleashing of Palpatine had been entirely accidental, and if anyone could advise her on what to do with him, Ben could.

Palpatine had been Darth Vader’s master. Surely he would have done things that warranted Ben’s ire, alongside being a Sith. A voice warned her that she couldn’t trust him with this, that she couldn’t be sure he would agree that Palpatine had to be destroyed - but that voice was not her own, and it was wrong. She saw Ben for who he really was.

“I found a holocron,” confided Rey, remembering what Palpatine had called the pyramid, drawing the shape of it with her hands. “There was a man in it. He’s a projection, a ghost, a-a... Not a real person, but he can still use the Force.” She chose not to mention Palpatine’s specific interest in him. “He’s - he  _ was _ \- the emperor.”

“Darth Sidious.” Ben’s voice was a low rumble. His eyes searched hers. It seemed for a minute that he was going to say something else, but something else never came. Rey had to prompt him.

“ _ Yes _ ,” she said, feeling helpless and exasperated. She made circular motions with her hands. “What now?”

“You want to destroy it.”

“That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it? Emperor Palpatine was the galaxy’s greatest evil. If he’s come back, I have to stop him.”

“If Sidious were to return to power, it wouldn’t be through a holocron. They’re for storing information.” Ben lowered his head further - always bowing in her presence, she noted. “That’s not to say he couldn’t return in another way, or that the holocron isn’t dangerous. You shouldn’t be near it.”

“I can’t leave it, either,” said Rey.

“No,” he agreed. 

He went quiet again, and this time she did not feel the need to fill the silence. They just stood there, looking at each other. Ben kept up the eye contact, while her gaze had fallen to his left arm. It became evident to her at least, that they had expected the connection to close and it hadn’t. It thrummed strongly between them without pause, and eventually Rey rolled her shoulders and looked back up at his face.

“How are you, then?”

The corner of his mouth twitched into what could have become a smile, but he clenched his teeth and held it down. She didn’t understand why. “Tired,” he said truthfully. “It’s late.”

They could have been closer than she originally thought. Or just as far, if not further - who was she to say. But just the thought of it, the possibility that he might have been near sped up her heart.

“It’s alright if you have to go,” she said, more quietly than intended.

“Do you want me to?”

Rey turned her head away from him.

“Do you?”

She took a shuddering breath through her mouth, one that threatened to lead to a sob. She forced it all back out her nose. “No.”

In not looking at him, she couldn’t see it, but she could certainly hear his relief. “Go back to the holocron. I’ll come with you. Tell me everything you can about it, and I’ll help you destroy it.”

“Thank you,” said Rey, but still did not look. Remained still for a moment, then Ben’s hand moved like he was going to reach out and touch her, and she abruptly started along the way back to the chamber.

Halfway down the hall, Rey blustered out, “He knows about you,” while keeping up her pace, if not going a little faster. “He says he’s destined to meet you. And he calls you Skywalker.”

“I’m not a Skywalker. Not anymore.”

She glanced to her side. It wasn’t a surprise that he kept up well, she may have been hurrying but his legs were long. “You could be.”

“So could you,” he said - and immediately snapped his mouth shut. Stopped walking, just as they were about to reenter the chamber. Rey skidded to a halt and stood in front of him to take in the full picture. He closed his eyes and clicked his tongue against his teeth.

“What did you say?” she demanded.

“I don’t know,” said Ben.

Rey scoffed. “I think I’d know if I was a bloody Skywalker.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“So you  _ do _ know what you said?”

He almost glared at her. “You’re being obtuse.”

“ _ You’re _ being nonsensical! I don’t know what you’re saying to me!”

“You could be a Skywalker,” Ben shot back, his voice reverberating in her head rather than around the room, “ _with_ _me_.”

It clicked; for her that he was saying they could be together, and for him that she hadn’t been manipulating him into admitting it. The anger between them was extinguished just as quickly as it had flared, and they were left standing there, huffing stupidly at each other. Ben softened first.

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” he murmured, looking now at her feet. This was his apology.

An “oh,” escaped Rey’s lips, and that was hers.

For a second time, they waited for the connection to close, and still it did not. The air was calm and quiet, aside from the sound of their breathing, growing gentler and less stressed with each one. After much deliberation, Rey closed the gap between them and touched him on the arm, where she’d been staring before. She had expected the contact to flood her with a vision, something like she’d seen when they last touched through their bond, but there was nothing. A little disappointed, Rey figured it was probably a one-time thing. Ben bent and pressed his forehead against hers. She felt everything.

Absolutely everything. Anger, fear, sadness. Deep devotion and longing. She was in his body and he was in hers, they were thinking each other’s thoughts, living each other’s lives. Two thick lines stretched across the black expanse of space, parallel before abruptly crossing into one another. The universe was empty but for them. Then they stepped away from one another, and it was over.

Rey blinked and tears fell down her face. She felt a headache forming at the back of her skull. “The Force doesn’t pull any punches.”

Ben didn’t say anything at first, just wiped his eyes with the heel of his palm. He completed his earlier intention of taking Rey’s hand, and he looked at her with the same certainty he had in his eyes when they’d slain the Praetorian Guard. “Neither will we.”

At that, she was filled with an ethereal sort of confidence. She believed him wholeheartedly, as well as believed, more strongly than ever, that he would be hers. That he already was. Hand in hand, and an entire galaxy away from one another, they crossed the threshold into the chamber to face Palpatine...

–and the bond was instantaneously severed, and she felt her very soul being cleaved in two, and her headache burst into flames, and her hand closed on nothing and she stumbled-

Rey caught her balance back and stood with her hands on her bent knees, staring at the floor. She felt herself trembling, could see how the loose locks of her hair were quaking in her face. Slowly, she turned her head, knowing Ben was gone, but needing to see the empty space anyway. With great care, she stood up straight, keeping her eyes right on the space where he should have been. Palpatine can’t have missed her messy reentry, but he hadn’t said anything. She felt her blood pulsing in her veins, trying to keep her breathing controlled as rage built in her belly.

_ You did that. I know you did that. I know you’re listening.  _ She turned her head to the table that held the Sith relic - both the holocron and the emperor - and stared daggers. Her fingers flexed and brushed the metal of her staff, and she looked and realised she’d unknowingly called it from across the room. Rey’s eyes widened, becoming aware of her rashness and the awful potential that could come from it - but she still gripped the staff tightly as she returned to Palpatine.

His eyes were closed, like he was resting, and he had folded his hands into his lap. Her nose twitched, and she knocked her staff against the floor twice to get his attention. The old man took his time affording it to her, and Rey didn’t know what exactly to expect from him now, so she just expected the worst in a general sense.

“Earlier you seemed concerned about the implications that may come of me sharing my knowledge with you. As a sign of good faith, and to prove that we are indeed on equal footing, for every question of yours I answer, I propose you answer one of mine.”

Immediately, “No.”

He nodded understandingly. “For every two questions of yours, you answer one of mine.”

“No!”

“You bargain well. For every four questions you ask of me, you will answer one of mine.”

Rey scoffed. “I don’t even have four.”

“Then you have nothing to fear.”

It was a trap, Rey saw it clearly. The holocron was dangerous and it needed to be destroyed, and she’d be putting herself at risk with even the most menial question. Knowledge could be addictive, she could end up thinking of new things to ask as they went along. Palpatine had an agenda, even if she couldn't fathom what it was beyond the obvious points; to be free again, to carry out his evil bidding. To destroy Ben. She was sure of that one.

Her free hand closed into a fist. She considered her words very carefully before speaking. “If I ask you something, and you don’t  _ know _ the answer,” she said, “it doesn’t count.”

“A fair condition. One I should hope applies to us both.”

Rey almost smirked. “I probably don’t know the answer to anything you’d ask me, anyway.”

“You assume the nature of my questions,” said Palpatine, and it sounded promising in the worst way.

Rey hummed in thought. She took a step backwards and shuffled her feet, widening her stance. She took her staff in both hands and held it aloft - positioned it right over the holocron, lowered it so it touched its peak. She raised her staff, lowered it again. Once she was sure, she swung her staff with all the power she could muster and brought it crashing down onto the holocron. Upon contact, Palpatine’s form jittered into nothing, disappearing as the holocron swept all the way across the table and off the other side. His chair fell but, to its credit, remained on top of the table.

Rey got down on one knee and looked for the holocron, spotting it easily. The glass of the floor had a very distinct crack in it from the impact, but the device itself seemed unharmed. That much she had expected, but it had been worth testing its durability regardless. She put her staff down. went over to it and picked it up. Thoughtfully, she turned it between both hands, running her fingers along that nonsense phrase repeated on each side of the pyramid, save the base.

Palpatine reappeared standing an arm’s length from her. Vindictively, Rey tossed the holocron back to the floor, scattering his image for a moment, and returned to her seat. She covered her face with her hands, hoping the pressure against her eyes would dull her headache, and when she looked up, Palpatine had returned to his chair, but it had been moved to be sitting at the head of the table, indicated to be so by the prevalent consoles. Palpatine had the tips of his fingers pressed together, holding his hands so they made an inverted triangle.

“I have concerns for you, Rey,” he said, so earnestly that he could have only been making fun of her. “I fear you have been misled.”

“What,” she said with incredible bluntness.

“The flaws of the Jedi run far and deep. From the most elaborate customs to the smallest of details; their doctrine would not be right for you.” He regarded her, perhaps awaiting a reaction. None came, she just looked back at him in the corner of her eye, her elbows on her knees, forehead resting in her hands. “Attachments,” Palpatine continued, “are forbidden; strongly discouraged, at the best of times. During your absence, I considered the possibility that Luke Skywalker may not have divulged this to you. It would not be unlike a Jedi to obscure the truth.”

“Luke told me plenty of things to try to stop me becoming a Jedi, thank you,” snapped Rey.

“I see. Very well.” He clasped his hands now. “As long as you have been informed. I know you have rarely controlled the circumstances you find yourself in.”

“Right, you  _ know _ that.” Rey snorted and shook her head. Her arms went limp and hung between her legs as she grumbled at the floor. “What do you know about me, anyway?” she muttered - and felt her stomach drop. She lifted her head so quickly her headache, which had been waning away, surged back to life.

Palpatine grinned widely at her, showing off the horrible state of his mouth and only making her feel worse.

“That was a rhetorical question,” she said .

“Perhaps, but it can still be answered.” He gestured to her with one hand, like an invitation. “If you take it back, I will not count it.”

She should have accepted the offer. That thought occurred to her loud and clear. The right thing to do here was to take back the question. But - it would be helpful to know what  _ he _ knew, what secrets she still had over him, if there were ever any to begin with.

Rey said, “Tell me.”

Palpatine leaned back to the point where he was almost lying in his chair.

“You are a scavenger. Fierce. Full of pride. A creature of survival and little else, you have only begun to taste freedom. An anomaly in your bloodline…” Palpatine waved his hand. “Weak both in will and the Force, I couldn’t know your family even if I wished to; I only sense deep resentment and...sadness, in you, about them. Your power is immense yet unfocused. You require a master.” He folded both hands back into his lap. “That is all.”

“I thought you’d have a blueprint on my entire life,” she snorted. “Like the moment I touched your holocron you saw everything. That was too concise. You’re lying to me.”

“The blood is to blame. If the Force were stronger within your family, I could say more.” Palpatine shut his eyes. “You asked for what I  _ know _ , and I have told you. There is more I can detect but not be certain of. I am simply not as powerful as you fear. I am a sentient recording, as good as a holo.”

“A holo,” argued Rey, “that can use the Force.”

“The moving of a chair frightens you? Any child could do the same thing.”

“I know the Force is more than lifting damn rocks!” Rey yelled, jumping up to her feet. “You’re trying to paint yourself as this harmless old man.  _ I know better. _ ” She leaned across the table, one hand flat on its surface, the other pointing threateningly at Palpatine. “Whether your connection to the Force is weak or strong, it  _ exists _ , and I will break it.”

He smirked in triumph. “You could not accomplish such a thing using the light side of the Force.”

“That’s something else.” She wagged her finger now, scoldingly. “You’re close-minded and binary. It’s 35 ABY. I don’t have to  _ pick _ between the light and dark. No one does.” Rey straightened up, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She opened them again and looked down at Palpatine now, almost elegant in her quietened fury. “It’s the balance that matters. As long as I’m balanced, I can do  _ anything _ to you.”

That seemed to get through to Palpatine. He looked at Rey with a new lens, and began to understand that she was something he had never encountered before, and would not encounter again. Indeed, an anomaly. And he was afraid.

He said, “We will come to an understanding in time.”

Rey collected her things. Staff, backpack, toolkit, piece of the control panel she’d broken off. She needed to be away from Palpatine and the holocron for a little while. She needed time for herself. Despite the generally uncomfortable surroundings of the observatory, Rey was determined to carve out a moment of peace.

A secondary hallway connected to the octagonal chamber brought her a series of small rooms, most of them filthy, all of them empty. She entered the one with the most intact door - and the cleanest, logically - and shut it behind her. In the stuffy darkness, Rey sat cross legged on the floor and closed her eyes. It was time to take care of that bloody headache.

Time passed, though how much she couldn’t be entirely sure, and she began to hear things. Distant, echoey footsteps; indistinct voices. A picture began to fade in before her closed eyes, the image of something that seemed to be a command centre. No - a bridge. A big one, with plenty of people at a myriad of consoles and stations, all large and complicated, but nothing Rey couldn’t understand well enough from where she stood. That made her realise that she was indeed standing in the middle of it all, flanked by blurry-faced humanoids in dark officer’s uniforms. They were all focused on the dark shape that stood a few paces ahead, turned away. Stormtroopers bustled alongside her, and the last one in the small squad bumped into her - but did not actually make contact. They went right through, as if she didn’t exist, and then they were gone.

A sharp, snide voice cut through the white noise of electronics and hushed technical conversations. Rey turned her head away from the activity around her and back to the officers. They were easier to make out now, and the one who was speaking was of higher rank than the other two, with striking red hair and a datapad in his gloved hand. He held it aloft, sort of offering it to the dark shape but not entirely committed to it. And the shape - in one second it was a black void, like a hole in her vision, and then it turned, and in its place was the clearest, most defined, most beautiful sight Rey could comprehend.

Ben stared back at her in shock. Completely unfiltered, looking right through everything else in the universe. The junior officers were unfamiliar enough with his behaviour that they glanced back behind them, where they would have been looking at Rey had she actually, physically been there. The general -  _ Armitage Hux _ , thought Rey, without having ever seen or heard of him before - was undistracted by Ben’s gaping.

“I have better things to do than stand here,” snarked Hux. “We are busy enough without your sudden interruptions, Supreme Leader.”

Ben snapped out of it and snatched the datapad from him. Hux must have expected the catatonic state to last longer and for him to get away with his comments. He cowered immediately.

“I’m sure you’re right,” said Ben, baring his teeth. “Get to it.”

He lurched forward into a march. Rey remained still, supposing she wasn’t really in his way and he could easily walk through her like the Stormtrooper, but he stepped around her anyway. How strange that much have looked, to everyone watching.

The scene blinked from view and she was standing in the room where she’d posted herself, her vision fluttering before adjusting and settling on the door in front of her.

When their bond first opened, Ben had been curious about seeing her surroundings, and her seeing his. It was quickly established that they couldn’t, and it had never come up again. And Rey had just seen and heard everyone and everything in the entire room he had been in, even if only for a minute. She closed her eyes and tried to picture it again, even started calling for him through her mind, trying to see if she could do it again. But it was never up to her, or him. It would reopen as the Force willed.

And the Force willed it very shortly thereafter.

Rey took to pacing up and down the hallway, still remaining away from the chamber where Palpatine resided. Then Ben was behind her, and closed the gap between them to touch her waist, keeping his hand there as he circled around to see her face. She was surprised by how suddenly he’d fallen into disarray - she’d only just seen him and his hair had already gone limp, his face pastier than it should have been.

“Where are you?” he asked right away.

She fully intended on telling him, but had a question of her own. “What was on that datapad?”

“Th…” Ben was a little shocked. Waved his free hand like the answer didn’t even matter. “Empire records, known Sith holocron locations. But now you can just  _ tell me _ .” He spoke urgently, like she would suddenly disappear again.

“Jakku, Plaintive Hand. It wouldn’t be on the list, it was hidden in a wall.” Rey raised her hand and settled it on his arm, unsure if she was meaning to push him away or pull him in. She left it sitting there instead, now checking at him up and down with her brow furrowed. Something was off, not just about him but herself also. Whatever it was, she looked past it in favour of what Ben was doing. “You’re coming for me,” she said.

“I am.”

“You’re going to help me.”

“I will.”

“And after that?”

He looked at her. She looked back, then suddenly laughed.

“I’m sorry, I just-” She waved both her hands, stepping back as to not be in his face as she sucked in a breath. His hand automatically tried to follow, fingers twitching. She tried to fight down a ridiculous grin as she asked, “Were you planning on blindly visiting  _ everywhere _ on that list?”

“It’s a short list,” said Ben. “I didn’t know when I’d see you again. It’s been too long already.”

“It’s only been a few hours.”

He clenched his hand into a fist; eyes did not leave hers for a second. “It’s…” He exhaled all at once in disbelief. “I haven’t seen you in two days. I’ve already been to three…”

The smile vanished from Rey’s face. Her stomach dropped like an anchor - she took a step back with shaking legs. Ben came forward with her and preemptively held her arm to keep her upright. The air was getting tighter - not just because the observatory was buried and had no airflow, not just because she was beginning to panic. The connection was going to close again.

“Rey.”

“That’s not  _ possible _ ,” she spat out.

“I’m coming. Okay?” He bent, moving from her arm up to her neck. His other hand took hers and held on tightly. “I’m-”

He disappeared and Rey stumbled a second - but only for a second. In that moment, her thoughts zeroed in on what mattered the very most:  _ water _ .

She dove for her pack and pulled out her flask; half-full, like she had left it, although the water was warm and gross from its extended stay in the climate of the observatory. This was trivial. It still did the job.

Rey finished that and ate every ration in her pack. She scoured the observatory for more, found three decades-old bottles of water and one of wine. No food. Though her stomach grumbled, her rations had done her well. And besides - Rey had starved for most of her life. To continue to do so wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination, but she had a better handle on the situation than she would have if she’d lived otherwise.

She opened the gigantic entry to the observatory. It had been a difficult decision to make; she wasn’t sure she believed that her charge was incapable of escaping, but she needed fresh air. Perhaps too eager to fulfill her request, the wind threw scaling sand in her face, blasting through the observatory with a power that made the halls whistle. The sun shone directly overhead and she spent some time basking in the warmth until it became too much. She closed the door again, but not before staring into the sky, not unlike how she used to when she waited for her parents. This time, she prayed for Ben to not let her down.

Leaving her things in the hall just outside, Rey peeked through the entrance to the chamber, finding it empty of Sith ghosts. The holocron, however, had returned to the table. She walked in, and at the same time Palpatine’s horrid visage came into view.

“What did you do to me?” she demanded.

“This is your second question,” he replied.

“So fucking answer it!”

Not much had changed since she was here last, which was a bit of a surprise. She’d half expected the entire chamber to be flipped upside down and turned into a farce of a throne room, Palpatine refurbishing the old chairs and consoles to more suit his aesthetic. Instead, the chairs had been slightly rearranged. And the holocron moved, of course; it was important to Rey that she keep that in mind. It confirmed her suspicions that Palpatine wasn’t entirely out of control of where it - and therefore, he - could go.

“I sensed great exhaustion in you,” Palpatine said coyly. “Whatever the nature of this current adventure of yours, you have been on it for a while. I meant for you to rest. I am sure you’ve earned it.”

**Author's Note:**

> rest in fucking pieces


End file.
